Held in Skipton near Bolton Abbey, the Press and department of Volkswagen UK had invited uk-mkivs to view and drive the latest releases to the Uk market.
Cold and wet, the day looked to be a miserable one except for the line up in the car park; Face lifted Tourans, Eos V6 DSGs and the mighty V10 TDI Touareg. And of course the awaited Golf Gti Edition 30.
After meeting the staff of the press office and a quick coffee, it was time to choose, and test the available cars throughout the day.
Golf Gti Edition 30
Sat awaiting to be tested was the new milestone Golf GTI, a selection of which finished in the colours available to buy. There were a couple of Tornado red examples, and some would say this is the appropriate colour for this car, but the Candy white cars really jumped out of the surroundings. It should; the UK is the biggest market for the GTI, followed by Germany.
Fully colour coded with appropriate revisions to the front and rear valances and 18” Pescara wheels the car stands confidently looking aggressive, purposeful and bespoke. The MkV GTI is individual and this model takes the concept further away from the standard cars. Good value for £22,295?
The interior was also a pleasure, with Interlagos cloth with leather enhanced throughout with blood red stitching and Edition 30 detailing discreetly advertising its birthday.
The standard car is a competent package able to deliver all aspect of what individual drivers request from their cars but this seems to up the ante to another level. To simply drive is a pleasure with acceptable ride and precise gear change via the golf ball gear knob (though DSG is available), the 2.0 turbocharged engine being tractable and forgiving.
The 1500 Edition 30 cars have an uprated 230bhp engine to match the cosmetic enhancements, perhaps to answer the criticisms that the competition boast bigger outputs, also helped with an increase to 221 ft Ibs of torque and a mere 2200 rpm. Mid range is improved to allow super quick cross country performance without issue- and it felt smooth and uniform whist accelerating. The roads were very wet but the ESP would only kick in if purposefully provoked. Seems to contradict what the Astra VXR has taught us regarding the relationship between front wheel drive and horsepower.
It was fun drive on some of the twisty wet roads - staying solid over crests and through standing water, and to be fair I was surprised time after time by the physical ability to drive as it did, then becoming sensible when I rejoined the traffic as if the previous never happened.
The standard car is good, but this one is merely excellent.
Eos 3.2 V6 with DSG
Whilst the GTI continues a tradition and celebrates a birthday, the Eos has arrived fresh faced as a four seat convertible coupe with a five part folding hard-top.
Available since July 2006 the Eos has been produced with 1.6 FSI and 2.0 FSI and Turbocharged petrol’s and the 2.0 140 TDI. Six speed gearboxes are standard with the DSG offered on the higher output cars.
Here however we were presented with the new V6 version, which boasts the same 3.2 engine out of the current R32 married with the DSG gearbox.
Am that combination proved to create an excellent tourer perhaps only spoilt by driving the Golf first, as its not expected nor designed to meet the same exacting standards of performance. Respectable figures of 38mpg were experienced though it did drop to 20mpg when the rain briefly cleared on the quiet roads around Skipton. Even those roads couldn’t force scuttle shake but slight movement of the roof could be heard when the going got a little rushed. Its worth noting however even with the folding roof the car was quieter than the Golf and the V6 made the R32 noise.
The £28400 price tag is a little questionable, but 25 seconds changes your coupe into a summer convertible that is hardly comparable with the flimsiness nature of the Peugeot 306 CC. The engine may have sporting heritage but in this model it needs treating with a little more restraint.